The nurse looked down, her voice trembling as she held the clipboard close to her chest. “I’m sorry, Mr. Calder,” she whispered. “He… he didn’t make it.”

For a moment, the world stopped moving.

Adrian blinked, disbelief washing over him like cold water. “What did you just say?” His voice came out rough, uneven. “Say it again.”

The nurse swallowed, avoiding his eyes. “There was a complication. His kidneys failed completely. We tried everything, but… Elias passed away early this morning.”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “No. No, that’s impossible. You must be talking about another child.”

But the nurse only lowered her gaze further. “I’m sorry, sir. It’s your son. Elias Calder.”

Before Adrian could say another word, a piercing scream tore through the hallway.

“What do you mean dead?!” Seraphine’s voice was raw and trembling. She pushed past two nurses, her eyes wild. “Where is his body? Where is my son?!”

“Miss, please—” the nurse tried to explain, but Seraphine shoved her away.

“I want to see him!” she cried, her voice breaking. “Where is my son? Where is Elias?”

Another nurse stepped forward cautiously, holding a chart. “Ma’am, there was… there was a directive. The body was already cremated, per instructions from Mrs. Vivienne Calder.”

“What?” Adrian’s voice thundered through the room. “What did you just say?”

The nurse trembled. “Mrs. Calder handled all arrangements personally. She… she stayed with him through the night. The cremation happened at dawn. She said it was his wish to rest quietly.”

Seraphine froze, her face turning white. “No,” she whispered. “No, that’s not true. I’m his mother. She had no right!” Her voice rose into a scream. “She took that from me too! I’ll sue this hospital! I’ll destroy all of you!”

She was trembling violently, her knees buckling. Adrian reached for her, but she collapsed against him, fainting from the shock. Nurses rushed forward to catch her, calling for help.

Adrian just stood there, his ears ringing. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t move. His son — his only son — gone? Just like that? No goodbye. No last look.

Something inside him snapped.

He turned to the doctor, his face red with fury. “Find her. Now.” His voice was a growl. “Find Vivienne Calder and bring her to me. I don’t care what it takes. You hear me?”

The staff hesitated, terrified, but he roared louder. “GO!”

Within minutes, nurses scattered, calling other hospitals, searching files. Adrian pulled out his phone, his hands shaking, dialing Vivienne over and over. Each time, the same response — the number you have dialed cannot be reached.

He slammed his phone against the wall. “Damn it!”

When Seraphine regained consciousness hours later, her face was pale and streaked with tears. “She did this,” she whispered weakly. “She took him from us. She killed him.”

Adrian clenched his fists, his eyes dark. “I know. And she’s going to pay for it.”

He left the hospital immediately, storming through the parking lot, his heart pounding. The rain had started to fall — heavy, relentless — but he barely noticed.

There was only one place left to go.

Vivienne’s father’s office.

He didn’t even wait for the secretary to announce him. He burst through the doors, slamming them shut behind him. “Where is she?” he demanded, dripping water across the marble floor. “Where the hell is your daughter?”

Mr. Howard looked up slowly from behind his desk, calm — too calm. “Mr. Calder.”

Adrian’s chest heaved. “Don’t play dumb with me. You know where she is. You helped her, didn’t you? Tell me right now or—”

“Or what?” Mr. Howard’s tone was cold, cutting through the air like a knife. “You’ll threaten me? Haven’t you done enough damage to my family?”

Adrian’s nostrils flared. “You think you can talk to me like that? You forget that the merger—”

“There is no merger,” Mr. Howard interrupted sharply. “Not anymore.”

Adrian froze. “What?”

Mr. Howard rose from his chair, every inch the powerful man he used to admire — now looking at him like he was nothing. “You heard me. No merger. No partnership. No alliance. From this day on, we have nothing to do with you or your company.”

“You can’t—”

“Oh, but I can.” Mr. Howard leaned forward, his voice low and dangerous. “I know what you did to Vivienne. I know about Seraphine. About every lie you did to ruin my daughter. About Elias.”

Adrian’s jaw clenched, his pulse quickening. “Watch your mouth.”

But Mr. Howard didn’t back down. “You fooled her. You made her believe she was pregnant when she wasn’t. You made her live a lie. And now, because of your greed and deceit, she’s gone — and she took her freedom with her. Good for her.”

Adrian slammed his fist on the desk. “You don’t know anything!”

“Oh, I know enough.” Mr. Howard motioned to his guards. “You should leave now, Mr. Calder. Before I decide to press charges myself.”

Adrian’s face contorted in rage. “You think this is over?” he hissed. “You think you can hide her from me? I’ll find her. I’ll find her and she’ll regret ever crossing me.”

Mr. Howard didn’t even flinch. “Even if I knew where she was,” he said coldly, “I wouldn’t tell you. Because I was wrong — about everything. I thought you could make my daughter happy. But all you did was destroy her.”

He turned away, signaling the guards. “Now get out of my office.”

The guards stepped forward, grabbing Adrian by the arms. He struggled, shouting as they dragged him toward the door. “You’ll regret this, old man! Do you hear me?!”

But the door slammed behind him before he could finish.

Outside, the storm raged on. Adrian stood under the gray sky, soaked, trembling with fury and grief.

Vivienne was gone. Elias was gone.

And all that remained inside him was a festering mix of rage and regret — the kind that would eat him alive until he found her.

“She’ll pay,” he muttered under his breath, his hands curling into fists. “I swear, she’ll pay.”

The slap landed harder than Seraphine expected. For a moment she only heard the sharp sound and felt the sting flaming across her cheek.

“How dare you slap me!” she snapped, stumbling back. “You’re not my father—who are you to—”

“Yes,” Mr. Howard said. “I am not your blood father. I am your stepfather. But I raised you. I gave you everything. Is this how you repay me?”

Seraphine’s eyes flashed. “Everything? You gave me a name and a house, and you kept the truth from me. You gave me nothing that matters.” Her voice trembled with a mixture of rage and hurt.

Howard’s mouth tightened. He moved closer and the second slap came quicker, sharper. Seraphine clutched her cheek, blinking, trying to steady herself.

“How dare you do that to my daughter,” he growled, looking past Seraphine at the framed photograph of Vivienne on the wall.

Seraphine spat back, words tumbling out like a thrown stone. “Do you even care about your daughter? You never did. You left her alone. You treated me better because I fit the life you wanted. You made her the scapegoat.”

Howard’s face faltered for a second, then hardened into anger. “That was my mistake,” he said tightly. “I thought she caused trouble. I judged wrong. But you—” He pressed his thumb into the envelope he had kept on the desk, as if the paper had weight enough to prove his point. “You ruined everything.”

“Ruined everything?” Seraphine scoffed. “She took what’s mine—my child, my place. If anyone ruined something, it’s her stealing what’s rightfully ours.”

“From now on,” Howard said, voice flat and final, “you will not receive a single cent from me. Not one penny. You will have no claim on my estate. Not a thing.”

Seraphine’s face blanched. She straightened, chest trembling. “I’ll tell my mother about this…” she hissed. “You’ll see. She will make you change your mind.”

Howard’s jaw tightened. “Do it,” he said. “Tell her. See what she says now.”

The room fell into a brittle silence, then a polite knock sounded at the door. A woman entered in heels and silk, calm in a way that seemed practiced. Lana, Seraphine’s mother and Mr. Howard’s second wife, surveyed the scene with the easy authority of someone used to smoothing storms.

“What is this?” she asked.

Howard flung the facts at her without ceremony. He told her everything Seraphine had done to Vivienne, and how he was a fool not to know his own son was being played at.

Lana listened, fingers lightly folded. She made a faint sound — not shock, but calculation. “Oh?” she said, like a woman reading a menu. “So what? We can fix this. It’s not a big deal. A sincere apology, the right faces at the right time, and the public moves on. People forget.”

Seraphine looked at Lana with pleading eyes. “You… you can do that? You can make them look like the victims?”

Lana’s smile tightened into something sharper. “Of course. We have friends. A few calls, some social proof. The merger partners mustn’t suspect instability.” She turned to Howard. “Think of the company. Think of appearances. Seraphine needs a calm hand. We can spin this.”

“If you don’t want what’s left of my goodwill,” he said at last, voice lower, “then leave this house. Leave it all. If you choose to trade a roof for a lie, be gone.”

Seraphine collapsed. She sank into a chair and began to cry. Her hands covered her face.

“It’s Vivienne’s fault,” she sobbed to Lana, when the others had turned away. “She took my son. She needs to pay.”

Lana patted her hand like a mother smoothing a fevered brow. “We’ll see about that,” she murmured. “We’ll make sure she pays.”

Adrian sat in his office, the room dark except for the city lights flickering through the window. He rubbed his temples, exhausted. Elias’s empty room haunted him the most. Every corner of that space reminded him of laughter that no longer existed. His chest tightened every time he remembered the nurse’s voice saying, “I’m sorry, Mr. Calder… he didn’t make it.”

But deep inside, something didn’t add up. Vivienne couldn’t have just vanished. He had people searching day and night, but it was as if she had disappeared from the world.

His thoughts were broken when the door opened without warning. Standing there was a woman he hadn’t seen in weeks — his mother. Her face was pale, her eyes burning with fury.

Before he could speak, her hand met his cheek with a sharp slap. The sound echoed in the room.

“You’ve ruined everything,” she said, her voice low but trembling with rage. “You destroyed your marriage, your name, and our family’s dignity. You lied, you cheated, and now you expect me to stand by you?”

Adrian stared at her, speechless.

“She trusted you,” she continued, her voice cracking. “Vivienne loved you, Adrian. She gave you everything, and you threw it away for that woman. How could you?”

“Mother, please—” he started, but she raised her hand again.

“Don’t,” she cut him off sharply. “Don’t you dare make excuses. You don’t deserve to say her name.”

Adrian lowered his gaze, shame rising in his chest.

“Do you even realize what you’ve done?” she said, her voice shaking. “You didn’t just lose a wife and a child. You’ve brought disgrace to this family. Your father can’t even show his face in public because of you.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she turned away, her eyes wet with anger and disappointment.

“I never thought I’d see the day my own son would make me feel ashamed to be his mother,” she whispered.

And with that, she turned and walked away, leaving the door wide open behind her.

Moments later, another figure entered. This time, it was his own father. His steps were heavy, his face a storm.

Before Adrian could stand, a fist connected with his jaw.

“You embarrassed this family!” his father shouted. “You ruined my friendship with Howard! Do you realize what you’ve done?”

Adrian staggered, holding his face. “Father, please—”

“No!” his father barked. “You’ve caused enough shame. You were given everything — a good wife, a strong company — and you threw it all away for greed and lust.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“You think meaning matters now?” His father’s voice dropped lower, colder. “From today, you’re no longer welcome here.”

Adrian froze. “What are you saying?”

His father straightened, his voice firm. “You have two choices. Go to the rural branch and manage it. Start from nothing. Or be disowned. You choose.”

Adrian looked at him in disbelief. “Father, please don’t—”

“I said choose,” his father said again, his tone final.

Adrian’s throat tightened. The walls around him seemed to close in, the life he had built crumbling in his hands.